Why so few words?

Did you know that only 100 English words cover about 53% of popular English writings?

That is, at least, what one study found. Yet another study found that just 25 words covered 33% of commonly published English books, and 1,000 words covered 89% of those writings.

These numbers count all the variations of a word as one (e.g. walk, walks, walking, and walked would be counted as one), but the point is clear: we don’t need many words to understand a big chunk of a language.

That’s why my language mixing books typically only contain 35-39 words each. This seems hilariously small at first until you realize one thing: they’re the most commonly used and most powerful words in the entire language.

Other language courses often contain hundreds or even thousands of words. However, that approach can run into problems:

• Your attention can be spread out over all of them – so the most common, important, and useful words are given just as little time as very obscure ones! This is illogical.

• Sometimes such books will parrot words at you rather than taking sufficient time to teach you about them. Some effectively turn into elaborate dictionaries. These are exhausting to read.

• Since they have so many words to cover, they can skip over vital information about them. For example, double meanings, alternative spellings, and confusing similarities can be left out.

In my books, because I’ve picked out the 35-39 most important words, we can take our time with each one. My books are thorough and detailed compared to many language courses. I try to avoid skipping through things quickly and glossing over important problems.

It’s also satisfying to finish a short book; it avoids the dread of opening up a heavy unfinished brick as heavy as a dictionary.

If this sounds good to you, please keep subscribing! I’m producing more books all the time. Currently in the works are books for Spanish and French. I already have seven for Italian.